Similar Albums:
- Artist: Heaven 17
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1983
- Total Time: 55:02
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Rock
Review
After creating a marvelous electronic debut, Glenn Gregory, Ian Marsh, and Martyn Ware decided to tamper with their winning formula a bit on Heaven 17's 1983 follow-up to Penthouse and Pavement. The result, which added piano, strings, and Earth, Wind, & Fire's horn section to the band's cool synthesizer pulse, was even better, and The Luxury Gap became one of the seminal albums of the British new wave. The best-known track remains "Let Me Go," a club hit that features Gregory's moody, dramatic lead above a percolating vocal and synth arrangement. But even better is the mechanized Motown of "Temptation," a deservedly huge British smash that got a shot of genuine soul from R&B singer Carol Kenyon. Nearly every song ends up a winner, though, as the album displays undreamed-of range. If beat-heavy techno anthems like "Crushed By the Wheels of Industry" were expected of Heaven 17, the melodic sophistication of "The Best Kept Secret" and "Lady Ice and Mr. Hex" -- both of which sound almost like show tunes -- wasn't. If there's a flaw, it's that while the band's leftist messages were more subtle and humorous than most of their time, they still seem rather naïve. But the music, which showed just how warm electro-pop's usually chilly grooves could be, is another matter entirely. [Note to collectors: there were differences in the original British and American pressings of the album. The 1997 reissue by Caroline follows the order of the British pressing, adding some extended remixes.] ~ Dan LeRoy, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Crushed by the Wheels of Industry | Heaven 17 | (5:53) | |
| Who'll Stop the Rain | Heaven 17 | (3:04) | |
| Let Me Go | Heaven 17 | (4:20) | |
| Key to the World | Heaven 17 | (3:41) | |
| Temptation | Heaven 17 | (3:33) | |
| Come Live with Me | Heaven 17 | (4:02) | |
| Lady Ice and Mr. Hex | Heaven 17 | (3:44) | |
| We Live So Fast | Heaven 17 | (3:46) | |
| The Best Kept Secret | Heaven 17 | (5:10) | |
| Let Me Go [Extended Mix][*] | Heaven 17 | (6:23) | |
| Temptation [Extended Mix][*] | Heaven 17 | (4:32) | |
| Crushed by the Wheels of Industry [Extended Dance Mix][*] | Heaven 17 | (6:54) |
